Project Showcase: Second World by Noemi, Matei and Alexandra

From Bucharest, Romania Noemi, Matei and Alexandra created a Minecraft world where players can connect to the world online to play together.

The team, aged between nine and 16, had always been interested in technology. Minecraft games were described by the girls as ‘the games of [their] childhood’. They had played a lot of them and wanted to make their own versions of them.

Their CoderDojo was a big influence in the making of this project, with their mentors teaching them the Java they needed for this project. They presented their project at Coolest Projects International in Dublin, Ireland in May 2018.

Read an interview with the project makers here:

Who was on your team and what ages were they?

On our team were Noemi (13 years old), Matei (nine years old) and myself, Alexandra, (16 years old).

Where did your idea for your Coolest Projects come from?

I really enjoyed playing minigames on the famous Minecraft servers and, as players, we were wondering how the creators of the servers came up and put their ideas into action. We were wondering how chests were refilled on “hunger games”, or how players would get points for each game they won. This is how it all started.

At first we were coming up with ideas for new games and then this idea popped in our minds : “If there are a lot of young players who are enjoying and actually learning small things while playing on these existing servers, then why wouldn’t we make something that would help them learn more important stuff through games?”

With this question we decided to approach a more serious topic, the importance of children learning how to handle money efficiently.

How long did it take to make your project?

It took us around three to four months to get our project to its final stage, but, as children ourselves, I cannot say that we have been working on it constantly. We, of course, had school related tasks to do that were of upmost importance.

What were the hardest parts of making the project?What were the best parts?

I don’t think we had any serious problems while making our project, but one thing got on our nerves for the whole period while working on it, and that was putting up our Minecraft server online. We had the idea, we had the project finished, but, at that moment, we didn’t know of a way to put our idea out there, in the world. I still think that sharing one’s idea and coming up with good marketing approaches( find a suitable name & motto, make people be interested in your idea) are the hardest parts in the process of making a project.

The best part was the moment when we got our first players on our server. As creators, we knew everything about what to do and how to play each game on the server, but we didn’t know if the explanations given were enough for new players to understand what they were supposed to do.

We planned to make our server as self explanatory as possible so that even kids who have never played Minecraft before could understand what to do. But the result was more successful than we’ve expected. All seven players who were invited to be our beta-testers were playing the games like they already knew everything about them. At that moment we were proud of our achievement, we were happy that our games could be played by anyone interested.

What did it feel like to present your project at Coolest Projects?

I think that the idea of having visitors coming up to your stall asking questions related to your project is really useful in helping us relax and open up to anyone who is curious about our project. At first we felt a little stiff during our presentation, but, as time passed, and as more people asked us about ‘Second World’, we started feeling more encouraged to present.

What was your favourite part of the Coolest Projects experience? What was the biggest lesson you learnt?

Coolest Projects as a whole is one of the most amazing experiences that I’ve ever had. I had the opportunity to tell others about my achievements and also learn about other’s ideas. Coolest Projects is a place full of learnings, opportunities and enjoyments. I can’t just decide on one favorite part, I loved the whole time I was in the hall where coolest projects was held.

If you could give advice to other young people applying to Coolest Projects what would it be?

If you have an idea for a cool project, then don’t wait and make it a reality!